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Improvisatio n What is it, the basics, and styles of music that use improvising. What is Improvisation? • Improvisation in music is the process of deciding what to play on a moment to moment basis. Each musical choice made during the process of improvisation is based on past musical knowledge and the current music being played. What is Improvisation? • There is no difference between improvisation and the conversation you had with your friend today. You decide what to say right before before you say it. What you say is determined by what you know and the flow of the conversation. There is a subject of the conversation as well as your interaction with other people. What is Improvisation? • What is the difference between conversation and Improvising? • The main difference between improvisation in conversation and in music is that most people have more experience with discussion, than we do with playing. Basics of Improvising • Play a melodic line, not just random notes. Like you are saying a sentence. • Most performers when improvising take parts of the melody and play them in their improvising. • Keep it simple! Some of the best solos are played on only on note, but have a complex rhythm! • You don’t have to play every beat, put in rests. • Using the notes in the scale and key you are playing. Easy ways to find the right notes is to use the pentatonic scale or blues scale. Basics of Improvising Scales • Pentatonic Scale • A pentatonic scale is a scale with five pitches Pentatonic scales are very common and are used all over the world. EX: Celtic folk music, African-American spirituals, American Blues Music and Rock Music, children's songs, the melodies of Japanese and Chinese folk music, and Western Classical composers such as French composer Claude Debussy. What is most important to what we are learning here about the pentatonic scale is you can play it over any chord progressions in the key you are in and the notes all sound good. • • Basics of Improvising Scales • Blues scale • The blues scale is a eight note scale consisting of the minor pentatonic scale plus the ♯4 or ♭5 degree. A single "blues scale" is commonly used over all changes in a twelve bar blues progression. This scale is usually a diatonic scale with lowered third, fifth, and seventh degrees and blues comes from combining 'African scales' and the diatonic western scales” • • Music that uses improvisation • What music uses improvisation? • Did you all say Jazz? • Well there is a lot of music that uses improvisation, the two most common are Jazz and Folk Music. Music that uses improvisation Examples of Folk Music that use improvisation: India Folk Music There is an accompaniment in the tabla, who also improvises a solo and in there is accompaniment in the sitar, then he improvises a melody over these accompaniments. though there are two other instruments in the video the accordion Russian Folk Music Even Can do his own accompaniment him. His left hand is playing chords and his right hand is improvising on the high notes. Gypsy Music African Folk Music Again the instrument does its own accompaniment. The guitars supply the accompaniment, while the voices are doing the improvising. You can truly see the conversation aspect of improvisation. Music that uses improvisation Examples of Jazz Music that use improvisation: Example #1 Jazz Music Example #2 Jazz Music Example #3 Jazz Music Example #4 Jazz Music This example Ella scat sings! Drums can improvise too! Clarinet improvised solo, followed by the rest the instruments. Miles Davis starts the solos and the rest of the instruments follow. Example #5 Jazz Music Giant steps